Spotify Reveals Most Streamed Artists, Tracks, and Albums of the Year

Spotify Reveals Most Streamed Artists, Tracks, and Albums of the Year

Spotify has revealed their end-of-year statistics for 2024 and Taylor Swift once again cements her status as a global phenomenon, topping the charts as Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2024 for the second year running. Her record-breaking 26.6 billion streams are a testament to the worldwide appeal of her music. 

The release of Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” has been a contributor to her Spotify success, breaking streaming records and captivating artists globally. The album became the first album to top 300 million streams in one day, amassing more than 1 billion in the week of its release. “The Tortured Poets Department” was also declared as the most streamed album of the year by Spotify. 

It’s been a massive year for music, more specifically for women in music, with the top eight of the top ten most streamed albums on Spotify in 2024 being released by women. Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” takes the second spot, with Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short ‘n’ Sweet” coming in third place, Karol G’s “Mañana Será Bonito” comes in at fourth place, Ariana Grande’s highly anticipated return takes fifth, Swift then takes sixth and eighth on the list with “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” and “Lover”, with SZA’s “SOS” taking number seven. 

Meanwhile, Spotify’s most streamed songs worldwide in 2024 were: Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso”, amassing over 1.6 billion streams globally, followed by Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things”, Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather”, FloyyMenor and Cris Mj’s “Gata Only”, “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims, Djo’s “End of Beginning”, Hozier’s “Too Sweet”, The Weeknd, JENNIE, and Lily-Rose Depp’s “One of the Girls”, Swift’s “Cruel Summer”, and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” rounding out the top ten. 

Drew Barrymore Gifts Ariana Grande a Piece of Wizarding History

During a heartfelt moment on The Drew Barrymore Show, host Drew Barrymore surprised Broadway star Ariana Grande with an extraordinary gift: the original Glinda wand from the iconic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Grande, who portrays Glinda in the film adaptation of Wicked, was visibly moved and exclaimed, “Are you serious right now?”

@thedrewbarrymoreshow

Drew surprises @arianagrande with Glinda’s wand from The Wizard of Oz ✨ Tune in this Thursday (Dec. 5) for more! #arianagrande #wickedmovi... See more

The wand, a symbol of magic and innocence, deepened Grande's connection to her character. In a playful moment, she pretended to make a quick escape with the wand. Barrymore explained that once she learned Grande would be appearing on the show, her entire team worked diligently to retrieve the historic piece. This thoughtful gesture not only highlighted the special moment but also underscored the significance of Grande’s journey into the world of Oz.

Matty Healy Implies ‘Social Media Break’ Following Heated Exchange With Azealia Banks

Matty Healy, the frontman of The 1975, has announced a social media break following his feud with Azealia Banks. 

In a post on X, Healy acknowledged his tendency to impulsively post regrettable comments. He stated “Guys I don’t have the right kind of intelligence / emotional maturity etc for social media I literally just end up saying stuff that immediately regret etc. I’m actually just gonna stick to music cos I’m good at that. Having manic episodes on twitter at 35 is kinda pathetic”. 

The decision comes as a response to the recent online altercation with Banks, where both artists exchanged harsh words and accusations. The feud began after Banks took aim at Charli xcx, saying she “used to be sooo pretty” - the post began a series of back and forth posts between the two, which at one point saw Healy post that he would “slap” Banks for throwing jabs at his fiancée - Gabriette. 

New Music Friday

Khalid released the deluxe edition of his recent album Sincere. Normani, Ayra Starr and Chlöe join him throughout these six new songs which go great with the album’s original conception. We really like “Passionate” for the American Teen impression it gives.

Quavo, Teddy Swims and Luke Bryan got together for a song. “Georgia Ways” is just a very unique grouping that we have nothing to really say about it yet. We’re still wrapping our heads around it.

Hozier organized Unreal Unearth: Unending which “features all the music from the past two years in one collection,” he writes on Instagram. There’s a new song called “Hymn to Virgil” that’s great. We still really enjoy “That You Are” and “Too Sweet” of course.

TWICE released their mini album STRATEGY and they put Megan Thee Stallion on a remix of the accompanying song “Strategy”, which actually meets a very suitable purpose. Her verse is effortlessly cool and full of all the necessary playful energy.

Dua Lipa is live all the way from the Royal Albert Hall. This live album is twenty songs long and goes through her many hits such as “Houdini” and “Levitating.” It’s a neat accessory to the Radical Optimism era.

And finally, ROSÉ’s debut album has graciously arrived. Featuring the very-big hit “APT.” with Bruno Mars, rosie is a twelve length song project complete of the most deep-seated heartbreak and anger. “too bad for us” is a song we want to highlight before anything else. This is a gorgeous sequence of heartache and a seriously good song. We’d name it our favorite release this week, but we simply can’t look away from the genius of “toxic till the end” which is the album’s current single that received a music video starring Evan Mock from HBO’s Gossip Girl. “Ladies and gentlemen / I present to you / The ex,” she cleverly notes. This song displays the unabridged outrage of dealing with someone you just can’t stand any longer. ROSÉ has plenty of neat lyrics throughout the song, but our favorite has to be “I can forgive you for all the things / For not giving me back my Tiffany rings / I’ll never forgive you for one thing / My dear / You wasted my prettiest years.”

—Dawson Therre

ICYMI:

• Taylor Swift’s ‘Era’s Tour’ book sold 814,000 copies over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend despite only being available at Target. 

• A first look at Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in the second series of Tim Burton’s “Wednesday”. The second series has just finished filming in Ireland and it set for release on Netflix in 2025. 

• ‘Wicked’ has been named the Best Picture of 2024 by the National Board of Review. 

• Chappell Roan has revealed that her Top Artist on Spotify in 2024 was Ariana Grande. 

• Mattel is being sued over their now-recalled ‘Wicked’ dolls that include a link to a NSFW website. A mother has claimed that she and her daughter experienced “emotional distress” from the mistake.

— Katie Macbeth

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